My terror of the Harrow killer

Saturday 23 September 2006 21:52 BST

Michelle Venis (top) said William Jaggs was a 'weirdo' even among junkies. Bottom left: Murdered Lucy Braham

A woman who took drugs with Harrow School murder suspect William Jaggs told last night how he became obsessed with her as his crack cocaine habit spiralled out of control - and even suggested to another Harrow pupil that they should rape her.

Michelle Venis, 26, described how she got to know Jaggs through their shared craving for hard drugs in the summer of 2004.

At the time she was a hardened heroin addict from a council estate within walking distance of the famous North London public school, and was about to be jailed for shoplifting.

Jaggs was an English undergraduate at Oriel College, Oxford, and a former pupil at the school where his father Alan is head of design and technology.

But, according to Michelle and another friend from the time, Jaggs was developing an appetite for crack, the highly addictive form of cocaine which can lead to severe psychosis.

He is now in a London hospital after being found ten days ago at the home of a neighbour, fashion designer Lucy Braham, 25.

An inquest into her death last week heard that she suffered 50 knife wounds and was lying naked in a pool of blood when police arrived to see Jaggs, 22, repeatedly stabbing himself in the chest.

Two years ago Jaggs would join the son of another Harrow master to visit the flats of fellow drug users on Michelle's estate to smoke crack. But even among fellow junkies he was known as a 'weirdo'.

Michelle said: "He was very quiet and would just sit there staring at you. It was really unnerving. Even if everyone was laughing and joking, he'd just sit there saying nothing.

"He looked at me as though I wasn't there. He didn't seem connected to reality. It was like he was in his own little world. I was very wary of him and never met him on my own."

One night in late June or early July 2004 this odd behaviour took on a much more sinister aspect. Michelle and her boyfriend's uncle Steven Hostettler, who is in his mid-40s and has convictions for armed robbery, were staying at the other Harrow schoolboy's home while his parents were on holiday.

Like Jaggs, who lived a few doors away, the friend lived in a grace-and-favour house provided by Harrow School to his teacher father.

Michelle, who started taking drugs when she was 13, remembers the evening well because of the dramatic contrast between the boy's home and the usual setting for her drug-taking sessions.

"There we were smoking crack and there was a big grand piano, antique vases and all these books and a posh school uniform hanging up,' she recalls. "I remember thinking that if this boy's parents could see what we were doing in their house, they'd have a fit."

According to Karla Swift, Hostettler's niece and the sister of Michelle's then boyfriend Michael, that evening Jaggs suggested to his school friend that they rape Michelle, who was out of the room at the time. The shocked friend repeated this alarming comment to Hostettler, who angrily rejected the idea.

Karla, who was told of the incident the following day by her uncle, claims he later looked through a bag Jaggs had brought with him and found two balaclavas, lengths of blue nylon rope, handcuffs and an assortment of sex toys.

She said: "Steven was horrified. When Will made the suggestion (of rape), Steven was disgusted and told him, "No, that's my nephew's girlfriend." He would have smashed his face in but he had a broken leg and was on crutches at the time.

"When he found the bag with all this stuff he couldn't believe it. He got Michelle and left straight away."

Michelle, who was in the grip of heroin addiction at the time, was unaware of the rape suggestion and believes she was not told because her friends did not want to scare her.

Within a month she was jailed for shoplifting. When she was released that Christmas, she had beaten her habit and avoided contact with her old friends. In March 2005 she moved away from Harrow altogether.

"I knew something strange had gone on that night but I was a junkie and didn't pay much attention to the world around me,' she said.

"I remember Will Jaggs arrived at the house and the three of them went to a bedroom to smoke crack. I asked the guy whose parents' house it was if I could have a bath.

"When I came out Will complimented me, saying I was a very pretty girl, asking me out and telling me it was a shame I had a boyfriend. I didn't think anything of it and went back to the bathroom to do my heroin. Then I went back to the bedroom but the other boy wouldn't let me in. He just told me to go to bed.

"I thought it was pretty weird but it was his house so I respected his wishes. At about 2am, Steven came in and said, "Get whatever's yours now, we're going to go."

"I thought Steven had just got a bit paranoid on the drugs. Looking back, it's scary."

Michelle, who confesses that she arranged drug purchases for Jaggs, says there was another time when she witnessed the dark side of his character.

She said: "He was buying about £150 of crack a day. Once he came back to me about five times in one day, asking for more as soon as he'd finished the previous lot. He was really into his crack and had a glass pipe especially for it.

"On the last occasion he called, at about 4am, I told him I couldn't get any more. The next thing I knew he was buzzing my intercom.

"He was shouting and screaming, saying I'd robbed him. He was calling me a whore and a junkie. He said something like, "You better watch your back because I'm watching your every move."

"After that I didn't hear from him for about a week and then he just phoned me out of the blue, apologised and asked if I could get him more drugs. That incident was enough for me to know to stay clear of him, even though he seemed to like me. He would always ask Karla where I was and wanted to know what I was doing. Sometimes he'd just come around to Karla's place without warning and I'd hide in the wardrobe to avoid him."

Last week's inquest heard that Lucy was killed after rejecting the gift of a kitten from Jaggs, who lives four doors away from her family's house. Detective Chief Inspector Jason Gwillim confirmed police were not looking for anyone else.